The present invention relates to a separation type air conditioner, and more particularly to an air conditioner having a body cabinet similar to a ceiling suspension type pattern while being a wall-mounted type.
Currently, a dominating air conditioner (indoor unit) is the wall-mounted type, and air conditioners designed in various ways have been supplied to a market. From among those, a consumer selects, and on purchasing, be a design as it may, emphasis may be placed on an installation place in terms of relationship with a housing space (arrangement of rooms).
For example, when installing at a window, a wall surface over the window is sometimes narrow in height and width because a curtain rail or the like are fitted, and therefore, an air conditioner having a pattern which does not require as much wall surface space as possible is desired.
Japanese Patent Application published under Publication No. 5-99454 discloses an example of air conditioners capable of complying with such desire. FIG. 24 is a perspective view showing the wall surface fitting state, and FIG. 25 is a sectional view illustrating an internal structure.
A body cabinet 1 of this air conditioner is composed of: a top panel 2 opposite to a ceiling surface; a bottom panel 3 opposite to a floor surface; a front panel 4; and a base panel 5 to be fitted to the wall surface, and has a heat exchanger 6, a blow fan 7 or the like therein. The front panel 4 is provided with an air inlet port 4a, and behind the bottom panel 3, there is provided an air outlet port 3a having a louver 8.
Referring to FIG. 25, this body cabinet 1 is such that a height on the front panel 4 side is formed to be smaller than a height H2 on the base panel 5 side, and that the bottom panel 3 is constituted by a circular arc surface which inclines from the front panel 4 toward the base panel 5 side. Thereby, wall surface installation space is made narrower, and when installed near a ceiling, it has been arranged such that such an appearance as a ceiling suspension type is given at a glance.
When, however, the top panel 2 and the bottom panel 3 are caused to project forward as described above, it becomes more difficult than a thin type air conditioner to support each panel by means of the base panel 5, and stiffness of the body cabinet 1 and assembly workability become an issue.
Since particularly for a large-sized air conditioner with a width of about 1500 mm, the panel is prone to be warped, it becomes a problem to handle its seam or the like clean. Also, since the air inlet port 4a is at an elevated place on the ceiling side, it becomes difficult to clean its filter, and it becomes a problem how maintenance should be facilitated.
According to the present invention, in an air conditioner in which the front panel is caused to project forward like the ceiling suspension type in order to reduce the wall surface installation space while being the wall suspension type, it is possible to enhance stiffness of the body cabinet, to enable a reasonable assembly operation to be performed, and to further improve maintainability such as filter cleaning. Also, a body cabinet having less seams and presenting a refined appearance can be obtained.
For this reason, the present invention includes several features, and as one of them, there is provided an air conditioner having a body cabinet including: a base panel fixed to an indoor wall surface through predetermined fixing means; a front panel formed like a ship bottom in cross section such that a rear end thereof is latched to a lower end of the base panel and a front end side curves upwardly; and a top panel, the rear end of which is latched to the top end of the base panel and the front end of which is butted against the front end of the front panel, in which on the base panel, a cross flow fan and a box for electric are arranged side by side, and a heat exchanger and a drain pan are mounted; on the side of the rear end of the front panel, there is provided an air outlet port; and the top panel is provided with an air inlet grille having a filter, characterized in that the front end of the top panel is fixed to the drain pan.
Thereby, a stiffness of the body cabinet is significantly improved. As a result, it requires a small number of ribs for obtaining strength, and an amount of use of molding material can be reduced. On fixing the top panel, in terms of assembly workability, on the side of the front end of the top panel, there is formed a latching slit; on the drain pan side, there is provided a latching pawl, and a front end of the top panel is preferably fixed to a drain pan by means of a latching slit and a latching pawl.
As the latching pawl, there is preferable the latching pawl, which is shaped like a T-character in cross section, at least on one edge of which a pawl to be latched within the latching slit is formed, and the other edge of which is located in the outside of the latching slit as a latch-releasing one, and which is rock-able like seesaw.
It is also one of features of the present invention that the drain pan is attachable to or detachable from the base panel, whereby any seriously dirty drain pan portion is removed and can be easily cleaned.
As a preferable mode on making the drain pan attachable or detachable, it is advisable to cause a front air direction guide (front-guide) of the base panel to support the drain pan body to be arranged along the lower end of the heat exchanger, and to fit mounts for drain pan to be formed at both ends of the drain pan body in predetermined region on the base panel for holding.
The box for electric is detachably provided with a service cover constituting one portion each of the top panel and the base panel respectively in appearance, whereby the maintainability can be improved while the appearance quality is being enhanced.
According to the present invention, an air passage along the rear air direction guide (rear-guide) to be formed on the base panel is shortened by an amount corresponding to a height dimension of the base panel to be made smaller, but at a rear end edge of the air outlet port, there is pivotally provided a diffuser continuing to the rear air direction guide, whereby a blast intensifying effect can be promoted.
Also, according to another feature of the present invention, in order to facilitate cleaning of a filter, the air inlet grille has a fixed grille formed integrally with the top panel on the side of the rear end of the top panel, and a movable grille provided detachably from the top panel on the side of the front end thereof, and the filter is held by the movable grille and is made attachable to or detachable from the top panel.
The filter includes a corrugated filter and a plane filter provided contiguously to one edge of the corrugated filter, and the corrugated filter is preferably held by the movable grille. Also, in order to increase an amount of air draft, it is preferable that the fixed grille is substantially parallel with an indoor ceiling surface and the movable grille is inclined obliquely downward.
On both sides of the rear end of the movable grille, there are formed bearing fitting channels which are rotatable and attachable to and detachable from the fixed grill, and between the side of the front end of the movable grille and the top panel, there is provided engagement means consisting of an engagement projection and an elastically deformable engagement pawl, whereby attachment and detachment of the movable grille can be facilitated and the movable grille can be reliably fixed onto the top panel.
On the side of the rear end of the movable grille, there is provided a grille retainer to a front end frame of the fixed grille, whereby deformation of the fixed grille can be prevented. The grille retainer is preferably provided with two grille retainers for retaining the front end frame from both upper and lower sides.
Also, according to another feature of the present invention, the front panel includes a pair of left and right side plates formed so as to cover both side walls of the base panel; each side wall of the base panel is provided with a front panel guide for guiding the front panel to a latching position with respect to the base panel, and on the inner surface of each side plate of the front panel, there is formed a hook capable of sliding along the front panel guide.
It is preferable that the above described front panel guide is an L-character shaped body in cross section including a base plate substantially perpendicular to the side wall and a guide plate bent upwardly from the same base plate and for forming a guide groove with the side wall, and that the hook is an inverted L-character shaped body in cross section including a hook body to be placed on the top end of the guide plate, and an engagement rib bent downward from the same hook body and for entering the guide groove, whereby it is possible to prevent the side plate of the front panel from being opened toward the outside.
The front end of the front panel guide on an anti-base panel side is arranged at a lower position near the indoor floor surface than the rear end on the latching position side, and between the front end and the rear end of the front panel guide, there is preferably provided a slope with a predetermined angle, whereby the front panel can be mounted onto the base panel from obliquely below so as to avoid a louver or the like provided on the base panel.
In order to further facilitate this mounting, in the hook, there is formed an engagement projection to be inserted and fitted in a latching channel at a latching position of the base panel, and on sliding the hook along the front panel guide, it is preferable to arrange such that the engagement projection runs onto the slope and the front panel is inclined at a predetermined angle.
Also, the guide plate is preferably formed such that the groove width of the guide groove is wide on the front end side of the front panel guide on the anti-base panel side and gradually becomes narrower as the rear end side on the latching position side is reached. Thereby, it is possible to facilitate causing the engagement rib of the hook to enter the guide groove, and at a mounting termination position of the front panel, its side plate can be strongly drawn toward the side of the side wall of the base panel.
On mounting the front panel onto the base panel from obliquely below, in order to prevent from bumping against the louver or the like, on each side wall of the base panel, there is preferably further provided a restriction guider for preventing the front panel from being lifted up higher than a predetermined height position on mounting the hook on the front panel guide.
The front panel has a screwing boss for the base panel on the inner surface on the rear end side thereof, and on mounting the panel, even if the boss abuts against the louver or the like, in order to prevent the panel from being caught in it, the boss is preferably provided with a slope which inclines on the anti-base panel side.
According to a preferred aspect of the present invention, in order to increase stiffness of the body cabinet and to improve assembly workability, at a front end of the top panel, there is provided an engagement hole having an elastically deformable engagement pawl therein, and at a front end of the front panel, there is provided an engagement projection which is inserted and fitted in the engagement hole to be captured by the engagement pawl. Also, between the base panel and the front panel, there is also provided uneven fitting means, and a predetermined portion of the front panel is supported by the base panel.